This invention relates generally to a composite package including a plastic bottle contained in an outer paperboard box and, more particularly, to a novel design of the minor side flaps at the upper end of the paperboard box.
The assignee of this application has manufactured and sold a prior art composite package including a plastic rectangular bottle contained in an outer paperboard box. The bottle may contain 21/2 to 5 gallons of liquid, such as cooking oil. At its upper end, the bottle has a pouring spout adjacent its front wall and a hollow elongated handle extending from the spout to its rear wall. The upper end of the carton has a foldable flap assembly which includes two minor side flaps, each having a cutout adjacent the front wall of the carton to accommodate the spout of the bottle and a second cutout adjacent the rear wall of the carton to provide hand clearance for access to the handle. A small tab is located between the cutouts. The carton also includes major front and rear flaps with the front flap having an opening which overlies the spout of the bottle and the rear flap having a pair of parallel slots separated by a solid center strip. To close the flap assembly, the minor flaps are folded first so that the small tabs rest on top of the handle of the bottle. Glue is applied on top of the minor flaps and the major flaps are then folded inwardly and pressed down on top of the minor flaps.
During the gluing operation, the only support for the minor flaps is the small tab which rests on the top of the bottle handle. If the tab is bent or torn during assembly, it has little or no contact with the handle, and the tab provides no support. Thus the glue joint is either of poor quality or nonexistent
The small width of the tab also complicates the fabrication of the carton at the corrugator. Because of the small width, the carton is difficult to square in the corrugation machine, thus causing a high scrap rate. As a result, many corrugators run the carton in a two pass operation, which, of course, increases cost of production.